The American Academy of Sleep Medicine reveals that older adults who indulge in heavy episodic drinking frequently show strong insomnia symptoms.
An American Academy of Sleep Medicine study reveals a link between binge drinking and insomnia symptoms.
The study was conducted on 4,970 community-dwelling adults aged 55 and above. Among these participants, 26.6 percent reportedly indulged in heavy episodic drinking two or less days a week while 3.1 percent reportedly indulged in binge drinking more than two days a week. When factors like demographic variables, medical conditions, and elevated depressive symptoms were controlled, researchers found that participants who indulged in frequent binge drinking of two days or more per week were 84 percent more likely to experience insomnia symptoms than less frequent binge drinkers.
"It was somewhat surprising that frequent binge drinking (more than 2 binge drinking days per week, on average), but not occasional binge drinking (more than zero, but less than 2 binge drinking days per week, on average) had a significant association with self-reported insomnia symptoms," said lead author Sarah Canham, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in Drug Dependence Epidemiology, John Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Mental Health in Baltimore, MD, in a press statement.
For the study all participants were asked to report the days they had four or more drinks on a single occasion during the last three months. They were also asked to answer questions regarding frequency of difficulty falling asleep, trouble staying asleep, waking too early or feeling unrested in the mornings. Participants who answered "most of the time" to most of the questions mentioned above were categorized as experiencing insomnia symptoms. Researchers observed that all participants who fell into this category also reported indulging in more than four drinks on a single occasion more frequently.
Authors of the study reveal that this study is the first of its kind and its findings can help clinicians and health care providers discuss the consequences of frequent heavy episodic drinking with older patients.
